Did you know that there are more than 865,000 people in the North Texas Food Bank’s (NTFB) 13-county service area that live in food-insecure homes? If you break that down further, that’s one in 4 children struggle with hunger.
What is a food-insecure household? The USDA defines food insecurity as a state in which “consistent access to adequate food is limited by a lack of money and other resources at times during the year.” In other words, it means struggling to avoid hunger.
Let’s bring it closer to home. Did you realize those stats are about people right down the street from you? Your kids probably go to school with some of the children who live in food-insecure homes. Look at this map...people all around are in food-insecure homes.
Food-insecure homes can look just like your home. Yes, that correct. It’s not just people who are homeless or live in a low-income area that are at risk. A loss of a job can easily make a home food insecure. That’s why at Harvest we are dedicated to help the fight against hunger. Our homeowners do this through the garden plots, monetary donations, and canned food drives. To date, Harvest has donated more than 20,600 meals!
This year, Harvest homeowners have donated more than 1,220 pounds of food. That equates to more than 1,470 meals! That is something to be proud of because it is literally changing lives.
Our goal is another 1,530 meals, a total of 3,000 meals by the end of this year. We need YOUR help!
On Friday, Harvest kids will be participating in a canned food scavenger hunt—where they will go door-to-door asking for canned food items for the North Texas Food Bank. It’s of course a competition/race for them, but it is also teaching them about giving back. At Harvest, we want to raise the next generation of philanthropists. Will you help? Here are the items that the NTFB need the most…these are worth the highest points for the scavenger hunt:
- Canned fruit and vegetables
- Dried or canned beans
- Canned tuna or chicken
- Whole grain rice or pasta
- Healthy cereal
- Peanut better
